Destination: Hi Seoul Festival (2008 fall edition – Seoul, South Korea)

The wonders of the Hi Seoul Festival make themselves known yet again. Quickly becoming a spectacle of Seoul, this once-a-season festival is actually an umbrella for several dozen smaller festivals. Each smaller festival has their own space and time within the Hi Seoul...

Destination: Seoul Forest / Seoul drum festival (South Korea)

Sunday night took me to the Seoul Forest – yes, not only is there a forest in the city boundaries of Seoul, but it’s reasonably easy to get to via subway / bus. The Seoul Drum Festival was being held here at the same time – another reason why I...

Destination: Gyeongbokgung (palace)

Note: This blog post has more pictures than the normal ‘Destination’ posts. I took almost 300 pictures at this one site alone, and cut quite a few good ones to keep this post to a manageable length. Fair warning to those on a dial-up or slow broadband...

Destination: Paldal-mun / Hwaseong Fortress – an easy-to-reach UNESCO World Heritage (Suwon, South Korea)

I owe thanks to my friend Meghan for inviting me to Suwon! About an hour south of Seoul, Suwon is the eighth-largest city in South Korea with over a million people living in the city. Suwon was named by King Taejong in 1413, although the area has had several older...

Destination: Seoul Grand Park (part 3)

Though I’ve written about Seoul Grand Park twice before, there’s still more there than I’ve had a chance to see. My friend Meghan (a new English teacher living in Suwon) came up to Seoul wanting to see a zoo, and I knew of no better one 🙂 After...

Destination: Unhyeongung palace — one of the lesser-known palaces in Seoul (South Korea)

In the world of Korean palaces, some are well and widely known. A future palace I’ll be visiting is Changdeok-gung, which has Biwon on its grounds (Biwon is a 78 acre Secret Garden – tell me exactly how you keep 78 acres secret?) and Changgyeong-gung,...

Destination: Seoul Land – a great amusement park inside another park (South Korea)

This week’s destination was Seoul Land – a medium-sized amusement park part of Seoul Grand Park. Although I’ve previously blogged about Seoul Grand Park, but the area is simply so massive that even seeing everything in two (or perhaps even three!)...

Destination: Wolmi-do – an island at the end of the subway line (Incheon, South Korea)

Welcome to Wolmi-do – a great example of an island that reclaimed land off the coast of mainland South Korea, and is now connected to the mainland. It’s also a great time as a tourist. Incheon, while sometimes considered a part of the Seoul metropolitan...

Destionation: Hi Seoul Festival – summer 2008 edition – weird balloons and a monster ballet, anyone?

The Hi Seoul Festival (link goes to official website) – recently changed from an annual event to a once-a-season event – recently started the summer festival in the Yeoinaru area – one of my favorite areas in the Seoul area. According to the...

Destination: Jagalchi Fish Market (Busan, South Korea)

Jagalchi Fish Market, as seen from the Busan Tower. The Jagalchi Fish Market should not be confused as a tourist destination, even though that’s what some Busan maps or tourist publications would have you believe. To go is to experience the commercial world of...